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Judge declines to suppress man’s confession in 2017 murder

Posted at 8:38 PM, Apr 21, 2019
and last updated 2019-04-21 20:38:40-04

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan judge has declined to suppress a man’s murder confession, rejecting his attorney’s arguments that it should be thrown out because his client was high when police interviewed him.

Twenty-year-old James Freeman is charged with murder in Deandr’e Willingham’s fatal October 2017 shooting.

Freeman confessed to the killing during an interview with a detective for the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office, but Freeman’s attorney argued his client had taken Xanax and cocaine beforehand and was unable to waive his Miranda rights to speak with police.

MLive.com reports that Washtenaw County Trial Court Judge Darlene O’Brien viewed a video of Freeman’s police interview and found that it showed him voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently giving a statement.

O’Brien recently declined to suppress Freeman’s statements and a letter he wrote to Willingham’s family.